Philadelphia, Pa. - Lincoln University sophomore defender Cleo Spear (Sydney, NSW, Australia/Oxford Falls Grammar School) has been named to the 2016 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All Area Women's Soccer team.   Spear, an anthropology major, was one of 12 student-athletes selected to the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Women's Soccer Team. The team is voted on by the sports information offices of 30 institutions from the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
 
 
Spear is just the second women's soccer player and the fourth student-athlete from Lincoln to ever earn Academic All-Area honors.  She is also the school's first academic all-area honoree since women's soccer player Tara O'Brien (Twickenham London, UK/St. Mark's Catholic School) earned the honor in 2012.
 
The Sydney, Australia native was the only student-athlete amongst the 57 nominees that had a 4.00 cumulative grade point average.  She has earned Dean's List honors in each of her first two semesters and was an Athletic Director's Scholar Athlete Award winner for the 2015-16 academic year.   Spear also earned the Lincoln's Scholar Athlete High GPA Award in 2015-16.
 
On the soccer field, Spear played in all 15 of the Lions games, starting 14.  She finished fourth on the team with two goals and seven points.  She also competed on the women's cross country team this past fall.
 
Spear is joined on the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Women's Soccer Team by Eastern's Emily Cole who was also voted in as 2016 Performer of the Year; Chestnut Hill's Annalyse Culp; Saint Joseph's Emily Gingrich; Arcadia's Jackie Glanfield; Rowan teammates Ali Hicks and Shelby Money; Swarthmore teammates Caroline Khanna and Hannah Lichtenstein; Cabrini's Gabby LeGendre; Haverford's Abby Letts; and Penn's Paige Lombard.
 
The Philadelphia Academic All-Area Teams were established in 2005 by the Philadelphia Area Sports Information Directors Association (Philly-SIDA) as an additional avenue to promote the academic achievements of the area student-athletes in all divisions. The academic all-area teams are published in the Philadelphia Inquirer three times each year (fall, winter and spring).